YouTube announces slew of new features at Vidcon

Josh Dickey

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has announced a series of new features for both fans and creators at Vidcon, including a massive translation effort, a virtual tip-jar that supports contributions up to $US500, direct connections between videos and crowdfunding sites and a mobile app from which YouTubers can manage and monitor their videos.

Other new goodies for YouTube creators: An option for up to 60 frames per second (which will make video game vloggers very happy), a music and sound effects library and a system for tagging contributors.

Giving an afternoon keynote at the fifth annual confab — her first Vidcon since becoming CEO of YouTube more than five months ago — Wojcicki first announced "Fan Subtitles," a crowd-sourced translation effort that encourages bi-lingual users to type in subtitles for their favorite videos. "Our goal is to make it so that every video uploaded to YouTube will be available in every language," she said of the opt-in feature.

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YouTube will also roll out interactive cards that directly link creators' campaigns to IndieGogo and Kickstarter fundraising efforts. But in a more direct strategy, YouTube will soon add its virtual tip-jar "Fan Funding", with which fans can "tip" creators at any time.

"To put it really simply," Wojcicki said, "any viewer can show any creator their love by tipping them any amount between $1 and $500."

Finally, Wojcicki announced an analytics and channel management mobile app "YouTube Creator Studio" — a development that was cheered by the content creators in attendance at the Anaheim Convention Center. The app allows creators to see their metrics in real time, a development that drew a cheer from those in the crowd who had previously been waiting up to three days to see updated stats.

The sound library will come with hundreds of royalty-free songs as well as 7,500 sound effects, while the higher frame-rate feature will make smoother, crisper images on the user end — much like it did for Peter Jackson's 48 fps versions of the first two Hobbit films.

YouTube also announced cards that overlay videos enabling viewers to click straight through to purchase anything from music on the Google Play store to items from off-Google retailers.

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